More young Australians will learn another language with a funding boost set to connect people to new languages and cultures.
The Morrison Government has committed $10 million through the Community Languages Multicultural Grants Program to support not-for-profit community language schools.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Grants Program would deliver a stronger Australia and invest in the future of Australia’s workforce to help them compete in an increasingly multilingual global market.
“Community language schools play a key role connecting young Australians with new cultures and the cultures of their ancestors,” the Prime Minister said.
“As well as building on Australia’s successful multicultural society, community language schools help prepare students for a workforce that increasingly works with different countries and cultures.”
Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman said there are 1000 community language schools across Australia who would be eligible for the grants. These schools specialise in 69 different languages and teach more than 100,000 school-aged children.
“A quarter of Australian children and teenagers speak a language other than English at home,” Mr Coleman said.
“We also know that learning community languages leads to better social and education outcomes for Australian children.
“These grants will assist more children and students learn and use another language which will have positive impacts well into the future.”
The Grants will be available for eligible community language schools on a per student basis to cover costs such as teaching materials, staff wages and new equipment.
Grants will also be available for eligible community language schools to develop teaching materials or run training activities. These grants will have a positive flow-on effect to other community language schools that teach and use the same language, with schools encouraged to partner together to develop proposals and share materials.
Community Languages Multicultural Grant applications will open shortly.